Nixon's Potluck

Bluegrass music, baked beans, hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad and ice tea. Those were the key ingredients for the Inaugural Potluck Dinner for newly inaugurated Gov. Jay Nixon. Just hours after being sworn into office, Nixon made good on the first of his many campaign promises. There were 1,000 hamburgers and hot dogs, 250 pounds of baked beans, 125 pounds of tossed salad, 20 gallons of ice tea and another 250 pounds of potato salad, according to the campaign. With The Alex Riffle Band from Poplar Bluff playing bluegrass and country music in the hotel atrium, it was a fitting event for a Democrat who won rural counties in southern Missouri where Democratic county clerk candidates can't get elected.